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Full-Text Articles in Law

Medical Malpractice Compensation Reform, Ruby Dean Dec 2018

Medical Malpractice Compensation Reform, Ruby Dean

Political Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

Tort reform legislation is a topic that has been discussed and studied heavily in the states of Texas and California. This is because it has been claimed that these states have had success in bringing more doctors into the states. This thesis studies those states, as well as the state of Arkansas. It examines Arkansas because tort reform legislation was an issue brought up in the most recent election in November 2018 in that state. Although Arkansas’ tort reform ballot measure was removed from the ballot by the Supreme Court of Arkansas, a similar measure could still be brought forth …


Why Exempting Negligent Doctors May Reduce Suicide: An Empirical Analysis, John Shahar Dillbary, Griffin Edwards, Fredrick E. Vars Apr 2018

Why Exempting Negligent Doctors May Reduce Suicide: An Empirical Analysis, John Shahar Dillbary, Griffin Edwards, Fredrick E. Vars

Indiana Law Journal

This Article is the first to empirically analyze the impact of tort liability on suicide. Counter-intuitively, our analysis shows that suicide rates increase when potential tort liability is expanded to include psychiatrists—the very defendants who would seem best able to prevent suicide. Using a fifty-state panel regression for 1981 to 2013, we find that states which allowed psychiatrists (but not other doctors) to be liable for malpractice resulting in suicide experienced a 9.3% increase in suicides. On the other hand, and more intuitively, holding non-psychiatrist doctors liable de-creases suicide by 10.7%. These countervailing effects can be explained by psychiatrists facing …


Using Clinical Practice Guidelines And Knowledge Translation Theory To Cure The Negative Impact Of The National Hospital Peer Review Hearing System On Healthcare Quality, Cost, And Access, Katharine Van Tassel Mar 2018

Using Clinical Practice Guidelines And Knowledge Translation Theory To Cure The Negative Impact Of The National Hospital Peer Review Hearing System On Healthcare Quality, Cost, And Access, Katharine Van Tassel

Katharine Van Tassel

This Article starts with a history of the growth of hospital peer review and then examines the merits of the rationales that motivated the passage of the Health Care Quality Improvement Act of 1986 ('HCQIA'), which catapulted peer review into the national system that exists today. The Article next explains how the peer review hearing process works and how HCQIA turns private hospitals into small, individual quasi-regulatory agencies. The Article goes on to critique the 'bad apples' approach taken by hospital peer review in light of the growing body of empirical research that supports a systems improvement approach to dealing …


Hospital Peer Review Standards And Due Process: Moving From Tort Doctrine Toward Contract Principles Based On Clinical Practice Guidelines, Katharine A. Van Tassel Mar 2018

Hospital Peer Review Standards And Due Process: Moving From Tort Doctrine Toward Contract Principles Based On Clinical Practice Guidelines, Katharine A. Van Tassel

Katharine Van Tassel

This Article proposes a solution to the problems associated with the current use of vague standards in peer review. This Article will examine the proposal that medical staffs switch from ad hoc judicial decision-making to rule-making. This switch will allow medical staffs to abandon the troublesome practice of applying vague 'standard of care' measures ex post facto. In its stead, express contractual terminology could be adopted, such as 'expectations of performance,' which incorporates specifically chosen and uniquely tailored clinical practice guidelines ('CPGs') directly into the medical staff by-laws. Describing the expectations of physician performance in express contractual terms enables physicians …